Measuring return on marketing investment in non-professional sports event organisations

Non-professional sports event organisations share many of the characteristics of small businesses. Non-professional sports event organisations often find it difficult to implement marketing theories and processes that would lead to improved strategic insight and organisational decision-making, which are characteristics associated in the literature with small business. This study focuses on the measurement of return on marketing investment and in particular, if and how, non-professional sports event organisations can apply this measurement process. It was expected that measuring return on marketing investment may be difficult to implement in the sports event context due to a number of barriers identified in this study and including a lack of resources, limited marketing skills, a multidimensional product, and the diverse goals of government and corporations involved in the marketing of sports events. To explore these potential barriers further, case studies were undertaken of twelve non-professional sports event organisations in Canada. The research initially explored the context of non-professional sports event organisations and then tested a methodology for calculating return on marketing investment (ROMI). This research identified that measures of return on marketing investment were not currently being used by the non-professional sports event organisations sampled in this study. The research also confirmed that barriers existed to adopting strategic marketing concepts and marketing planning approaches including limited marketing skills, insufficient time, and a lack of organisational will. Moreover, even after being presented with a simple methodology for incorporating a ROMI calculation in the marketing process, the case organisations found more value in applying the process rather than in the results of the calculation. Consequently, a distinctive gap exists between the theoretical justifications related to measuring return on marketing investment and the methods and understanding of this process being applied by non-professional sports event practitioners. The findings of this study provided some valuable insights for marketing academics and practitioners alike in relation to the need to consider the applicability and relevance of theoretical concepts for small business applications. Whilst the case organizations were able to identify and intuit the benefits of adopting a more strategic marketing approach, most were struggling to implement basic marketing concepts. However, through exposure to a simple model for calculating ROMI, two case organisations were willing to consider adopting simple methods for measuring return on marketing investment. Small business practitioners may not currently apply advanced marketing concepts, but the results of this study indicate it may be possible to reduce the gap between theory and application. To succeed, academics and policy makers must minimize barriers through the development of simplified processes and by explicating the value of undertaking strategic marketing planning and analysis.